U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Wright reading at Davidson College Thursday

Charles Wright by Dan Addison

"It's not just a bunch of words," says U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Wright. "Language has purpose," The 1957 Davidson graduate will be the star of "An Evening with Charles Wright" at 8 p.m. on Thursday in Duke Family Performance Hall on the Davidson College campus.
Wright chose Davidson as an  undergraduate because his parents wanted him to have a proper education. He majored in history, but his greatest desire was to write fiction. One thing he learned at Davidson was that he was not a storyteller -- a shock for the Tennessee-born student.

He gave up on the idea of writing fiction, but later, in Italy, Wright happened on the poems of Ezra Pound, and, as he told the Paris Review, "I discovered a form that seemed suited to my mental and emotional inclinations -- the lyric poem, a form that seemed suited to my mental and emotional inclinations -- the lyric poem, a form, or subgenre, I guess, that didn't depend on a narrative structure, but on an imagistic one, an associational one."

The author of 20 books, Wright has won every prize awarded to poets, including the Pulitzer Prize. He is retired from the University of Virginia where he taught English literature and creative writing.

The reading is free and open to the public. However, tickets are required. They are available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Alvarez College Union ticket office. They are also available for $3 by calling the ticket office (704-894-2135) or by reserving online.

Read Tmore here: http://readinglifeobs.blogspot.com/search?q=Charles+Wright#storylink=cpy

Alan Michael Parker's third novel, 'Committee,' a home run

Alan Michael Parker by Felicia Van Bork

What joy to find a novel that's exactly right. You're skimming through. First, the pages turn to
silver in your hands, then to gold. You know it's the real thing. Delight breaks out on your body, and you must put the book down for a few seconds and simply breathe.
Such is "The Committee on Town Happiness" (Dzanc Books, $14.95), a third novel by the poet Alan Michael Parker of Davidson College.
"The Committee" is 99 linked episodes (voice steady as hummingbird wings) laying bare the absurdity of committee-think and the elusiveness of happiness. A spoof, of course. An existential satire with ribbons of magical realism. It reminds me of one of my all-time favorite novels, "Mrs. Caldwell Speaks to Her Son," by the Nobel-winning Camilo Jose Cela, in which Mrs. Caldwell writes letters to her dead son Eliacim proclaiming her great smothering love for him. The tragedy in "Mrs. Caldwell," is, of course, that Eliciam will never read the letters, and mother and son will never be reunited. The tragedy in Parker's novel, if I must spell it out, is that "town happiness" is impossible to achieve.

The Committee on Major Financing convened, decreed its lack of jurisdiction. The Committee on Animal Safety made recommendations in light of the incessant barking. The Officer of Public Generosity deployed new azaleas. Two committees folded for lack of a quorum. We set a watch, deputized three teens. We made private overtures. We unsewed our shrouds.

As though day were night we went to sleep and rose to the falling darkness, to eat and work and play. We moved throughout our darkened town.We would see the fuss. We would learn what we were missing.

 We want to say that we have succeeded. Soon we will do away with walking around and not knowing.

U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Wright: 'Nothing Prepares the Brain'

I have a document in my home computer that I've named "Brilliant Lines." These are lines of poetry

I've typed in from favorite collections on my shelves. When Davidson graduate Charles Wright

was named U.S. Poet Laureate last week, I opened that file and was not surprised to see

that almost half the "brilliant lines" are from his collections.

Wright majored in history at Davidson, and he's told interviewers over the years

that he wanted to write fiction in college -- his mother had dated one of William Faulkner's

brothers -- but Wright discovered he was likely the only Southerner who couldn't tell a story.

When Wright was in Italy, he happened on "The Selected Poems of Ezra Pound," and,

as he once told the Paris Review, "I discovered a form that seemed suited to my mental

and emotional inclinations—the lyric poem, a form, or subgenre, I guess, that didn’t depend

on a narrative structure, but on an imagistic one, an associational one. 'Gists

and piths,' as they say, instead of the intricacy of narrative a line."

Here are some lines of Wright's from my "Brilliant Lines" file: 

Nothing prepares the brain 

        for the heavy changes in the heart. 

Nothing prepares the soul for metaphor’s sleight-of-hand.

Nothing prepares the left hand -- luminous twin -- for the sins

    of the right. 

Nothing prepares the absence of pain for the presence of pain. 

Nothing prepares what is for what’s not. 

“Night Rider,” from the collection, “A Short History of the Shadow" 

                                                             …

Alan Michael Parker's Winning Poem "Superlatively Unsettling"

Alan Michael Parker

Alan Michael Parker, a Davidson College English prof and the author of eight collections of poetry and three novels, takes first place -- for the second year running -- in the prestigious Randall Jarrell Poetry Competition. His winning poem: "Lights Out in the Chinese Restaurant."
The speaker in the poem is enjoying his meal. The lights go out. Poof. He's dead.
"I love this poem," said final judge Jillian Weise of Clemson University in Greenville, S.C. "It begins in a realist mode... makes a quantum leap. ...Part nightmare, ... the poem is superlatively unsettling."
Parker's quantum leaps are legendary. So I asked him: How did this particular leap occur?
"What we see when the lights go out becomes," he says, "naturally, a riff upon the afterlife's possibilities, as well as upon the mundane. I'm often interested in these kinds of inquiries, in finding metaphysical news in physical experience."

Parker, winner of numerous awards for his writing, has taught at Davidson College since 1998. He also teaches in the low-residency MFA program at the University of Tampa.
Marlene Sherbondy of Raleigh was named first runner up in the competition for her poem, "After the Funeral." Melissa Hassard of Greensboro and Kathryn Kirkpatrick of Boone won honorable mentions for their poems "At the End" and "Visitation."
The Randall Jarrell Poetry Competition honors the legacy of the poet and critic Randall Jarrell, who taught for 18 years at what is now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The contest is open to residents of North Carolina as well as to members of the North Carolina Writers' Network.










  

Bestselling authors to speak in Charlotte, Davidson

 February brings two great authors to town.  Lauren Groff ("Arcadia," "The Monsters of Templeton") will be at Queens University of Charlotte on Tuesday, Feb. 11. She'll do a question-and-answer session at 4:30 p.m. in Ketner Auditorium. It's open to the public.
 



Don DeLillo, winner of numerous literary prizes, including the National Book Award for his 1985 novel, "White Noise," will deliver Davidson College's annual Joel A. Conarroe Lecture at 8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 17.

DeLillo, whose other novels include "Libra" and "Mao II," has been called "the chief shaman of the paranoid school of American fiction." Want to learn more before his talk? Here's an enlightening interview from The Paris Review.

DeLillo's lecture is free, but tickets are required. Call (704) 894-2135 or order online for a $3 convenience fee.

Davidson writer wins poetry competition

Davidson College's Alan Michael Parker  is this year's Randall Jarrell Poetry Competition winner for his poem, "The Ladder."

Parker will receive $200 and his poem will be published by storySouth, an online literary magazine. Parker has published two novels, including "Whale Man," and seven poetry collections, including "Long Division," which won the 2012 North Carolina Book Award for the best collection of poetry. He has also won three prestigious Pushcart Prizes.

Parker, a Davidson College English professor, directs the school's creative writing program.

The Randall Jarrell Poetry Competition honors the work and legacy of the late Randall Jarrell, who won the National Book Award for his poetry in 1961 and taught at UNC Greensboro for 18 years before his death in 1965. This year's competition, open to N.C. residents and members of the N.C. Writers' Network, drew 122 entries.

 "The Ladder" hasn't been published yet, but check out another Parker poem, "After Love," which recently appeared in Slate.

LBJ biographer Robert Caro coming to Davidson College

Robert Caro, one of the nation's foremost biographers, will speak at Davidson College Feb. 26 as the school's  Joel A. Conarroe lecturer.

Caro has twice won the Pulitzer Prize for biography, for his books on Robert Moses and Lyndon Johnson. "The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson," the fourth volume of his Johnson biography, was published in May.

Caro has also won nearly every other major American literary prize, including the National Book Critics Circle Award  and the National Book Award. President Barack Obama honored him with the National Humanities Medal in 2010.

Caro will deliver Davidson's annual Conarroe lecture at  8 p.m. Feb. 26 in Davidson's Duke Family Performance Hall. The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. They'll be available starting Monday, Feb. 4 from the ticket office in Davidson's Alvarez College Union. They can also be reserved online or by phone for a $3 service fee. Check here for more information.

Author Thomas Mallon teaching at Davidson College

This has been one busy spring for author Thomas Mallon. Along with making a book tour to promote his new novel, "Watergate," he's teaching this semester at Davidson College, as the visiting McGee professor of writing.

One class is fiction writing, the other creative nonfiction. That's fitting, given that Mallon's writing credentials extend to just about everything.

He's the author of eight novels, including "Watergate," which Sam Shapiro reviews this week on the Observer's book page.

Then there's his nonfiction, which includes books on plagiarism ("Stolen Words"), diaries ("A Book of One's Own") and letters ("Yours Ever"). He's also the recipient of a National Book Critics Circle Award for reviewing, and his essays are regularly published in top magazines. Let's hope his students are suitably impressed.

As George Washington University's Creative Writing Program director, Mallon regularly teaches undergraduates. He told me recently that his Davidson students are "very good, very prepared, lively."

But in general, he finds, today's college students face some new writing challenges.

When you count Tweeting, texting and other social media, they're probably out-writing previous generations of students. But in this case, Mallon finds that practice doesn't make perfect. "When you're writing all the time," he says, "you'll think of it as a casual thing, and you get sloppy."

They also face new challenges as they try to develop distinctive writing voices. Now that the Internet allows anyone to publish anything, "it's sort of harder to get your voice heard above the din," he says. "Students have always been told to develop voice," but with so many voices talking at once, "it's very daunting."

And then there are emoticons. Advice to Mallon's Davidson students: Don't send your professor a smiley face.

"I don't believe I have ever used one," he says, "and if I manage to expire with that record intact, I think I'll be happy."

'How to Read a Poem' author at Davidson College

Edward Hirsch, award-winning poet, literary critic, MacArthur Fellow and president of the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, will lecture on "Reading Poetry, Poetry Reading," at 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 13, in Davidson College's Duke Family Performance Hall.

Hirsch's presentation will focus on the nature of reading poetry -- how it works and the intimacy it establishes through language. These are ideas he discusses in his 2000 book, "How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry."

Davidson English Department Chairman Zoran Kuzmanovich, who uses the book whenever he teaches poetry, says it's always a hit with students.
Hirsch believes poetry "is not just of the mind, but of the body," Kuzmanovich says. "The words the poetry delivers make you feel what this person may have felt."

And Hirsch is skilled, Kuzmanovich says, at explaining "why a poem makes you feel the way it makes you feel."

The lecture is free, but tickets are required. To reserve tickets, call the college box office, 704-894-2135. They'll be available for pick up before the event at a table outside the Duke Family Performance Hall. They can also be picked up between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. in the Knobloch Campus Center box office.

Davidson author's process is messy, but it works

Davidson's Garret Freymann-Weyr, author of five young adult novels and "French Ducks in Venice," a forthcoming children's picture book, explains to me that her writing process is messy. Really, really messy.

She tells me that she wrote one entire book from the wrong character's point of view. So then she rewrote it. She notes that her first drafts aren't the best. "You can't see how much you suck," she says, "until it's on the page."

And she says her first picture book, "French Ducks in Venice," to be published Dec. 13, contains content that might be inappropriate for children. This content includes unmarried parents -- though they are duck parents. Even worse, her two main characters, ducks Georges and Cecile, make prejudiced comments about mallards.

But in Freymann-Weyr's case, a messy process and inappropriate content beget highly praised books. Her young adult novel "My Heartbeat" was a 2003 Printz Honor Book. And "French Ducks in Venice" (Candlewick: $16.99), just earned a coveted starred review from Publishers Weekly.

In the story, Polina Panova, a dressmaker in Venice, Calif., has been dumped by her filmmaker boyfriend. Her friends Georges and Cecile, ducks who live in the canal behind her house, are indignant.

Freymann-Weyr's storytelling gifts "are unmistakable," PW declares.

Freymann-Weyr grew up in New York and graduated from UNC Chapel Hill. She'll discuss her writing at a free talk, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8, in the 900 Room of Davidson College's Alvarez College Union. She plans to read from her novel "Stay With Me," she says, "and talk a little bit about how sloppy my process is."

Poems -- and a CD -- from Davidson's Anthony Abbott

You've got two chances in coming days to hear Davidson poet Anthony Abbott read from his new book of poems, "If Words Could Save Us" (Lorimer Press, $16.95.)

He'll be at Davidson College's Katherine and Tom Belk Visual Arts Center at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16. His reading will include music and a projection of images.
He'll also appear 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19, at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.

This latest collection from Abbott, a retired Davidson College English professor, includes a CD featuring Abbott reading 21 poems from the book.

"The Perfect Storm" author at Davidson College

Author and war correspondent Sebastian Junger speaks on "Twenty Years of Reporting from Around the World" 7:30 p.m. Sept. 20 at Davidson College's Duke Family Performance Hall.

Junger's "The Perfect Storm" recounts the 1991 story of the Andrea Gail, a swordfishing boat caught in a storm off the Massachusetts coast. The book,a bestseller,was made into a 2000 movie.

Junger has also reported on war in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan. His wrote about his experience in Afghanistan in the book "WAR." His work has been published in The New York Times, Vanity Fair and Harper's.

The Davidson event is free, but tickets are required. For details: 704-894-2135.

Davidson professor wins N.C. writing awards

Davidson College English Professor Cynthia Lewis recently won second and third place in the N.C. Writers' Network's annual Rose Post Creative Nonfiction Competition.

Her essay titled "That Dress, That Hat" won second place. Third place went to "Secret Sharing: Coming Out in Charleston."

Lewis teaches Shakespeare, Renaissance literature and creative nonfiction at Davidson.

Pepper Capps Hill, who lives in Rocky Point, won first place in this year's contest for an essay called "There's No Crying in a Tobacco Field."

Davidson College alum pens young adult novel

After graduating from Davidson College with an English degree in 2005, Gwendolyn Heasley earned a master's in journalism and landed in New York with big plans for an exciting journalism career.

Then the recession happened. With no journalism jobs to be found, Heasley decided to use the crummy economy to her advantage. It became the backdrop for her new young-adult novel, "Where I Belong" (HarperCollins; $8.99.)

Manhattanite Corrinne Corcoran is shopping at Barney's when her mother messages her to come home for a family meeting. Turns out Dad has lots his job -- and the family's savings. While he heads to Dubai to take a lower-paying job, the rest of the family relocates to a small Texas town to live with grandparents. The book, says Relate magazine, is "one good thing to come out of the last few years of economic downturn."

Heasley's now at work on a second novel. She'll sign copies of "Where I Belong" at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 15, at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.